Yawn. Stretch. Just got up from a nap. Yes, it's been an extremely long hard day - not.

I've been joking for awhile now with each nice day that it was likely the last gasp of Summer. But I think yesterday might have actually been it - for real this time. We were going to spend the late afternoon and evening enjoying the warm day in our newly built and mostly functional pergola but instead ended up watching the Labour day rematch in the garage. As usual my team lost, so I had to endure the incessant taunting from my neighbor while drowning my sorrows in beer. After the game was over the usual collection of neighbors spotted our garage door open and so invited themselves over for some bevvies.

Normally I'd be all over whooping it up with the gang, but for some reason I wasn't feeling it last night and Chris had to be up at 4am to book a flight for next year on points, so we both called it early. Which was good as that meant I didn't feel like crap this morning and after a healthy breakfast went for a lovely walk. I've been doing a bunch of walking lately, even more than usual. I've almost hit 50km already in just the first week of this month.

Speaking of the pergola...

At long last, after what seemed like a never ending process, our back yard is complete - ok, almost complete. We're still waiting for a few things pergola related to be done. The company that installed the privacy screens screwed up the measurements and so we're waiting for replacement screens as well as lighting and outdoor speakers to be installed. But they left the existing screens in place, so as mentioned, it's mostly functional. In fact I napped outside in there for the first time yesterday. It was nice being shielded from the bugs while enjoying a nice slight breeze coming through. At this point, it's now almost Fall, so we're not in a hurry for them to finish - as that would mean having to do the substantial final payment. Based on the shit show of how long everything took, we might just insist on it being completed next year now.

Before...

But overall we're extremely happy with how everything turned out. As you can see from the pictures, what was once a back yard jungle is now a clean, sophisticated, outdoor relaxation zone. We also get a kick out of watching people on the walking path behind us looking at the yard and pointing at it as they go by.

Of course we needed to have a party to celebrate and due to the ever changing weather forecasts we ended up having two - one on consecutive weekends. That turned out to be a good move as it meant we got to have fun with even more people who otherwise wouldn't have been able to make it. It was nice watching everyone play the backyard games and seeing the pinball machines getting a work out. A big thanks to everyone who came out - both Chris and I had a blast.

...And After!

This past week I had a few days off and instead of just sitting around wondering what to do I had come up with a list of things to keep me busy. Other than not going to a movie matinee, we managed to get them all done. Some more exciting than others, but still it's good to have some structure and goals even when not working. Probably the biggest event was us going to the zoo which was something I had been wanting to do for awhile, it having been years since I was last there. A couple of attractions were new for me - namely the Penguins and Pandas. I was initially looking forward to the Pandas the most, but in the end found myself enjoying the Penguins more. So awkward on land, but so graceful in the water. We also got to watch them feeding one of the Tigers which was also cool. And as a bonus, one of us got in for free as the guy next to us at the ticketing machine gave us a ticket he said was an extra that got spit out.

This coming week I'm doing an online training course - while it's a full day every day, I'm able to do it from home which is nice as I don't have to endure the daily commute. After that it's back to the regular grind for a few weeks, including a quick trip up to Edmonton and then before we know it we'll be enjoying our next vacation. And soon after it will be our favourite day of the year - Halloween! I have a feeling that the rest of this year is going to fly by.

Here's to enjoying what's left of the Summer season!

Another 3am post...

Not because of any health issues this time at least. I just went to bed pretty early as I had earlier walked 10k and it had kicked the crap out of me. So technically I had over six hours sleep, but you can only toss and turn so long before you say screw it and decide to get up. I came downstairs and JC looked at me like 'what are you doing up at this time'? As if I was interrupting whatever cats do to entertain themselves at this time of night. Speaking of JC...Chris & I got a bit worried a few days ago. She went to jump up on her cat tree and if I hadn't been there she would have fallen twice while jumping to the higher levels, then later that day she fell off the couch. So naturally we both were wondering if this was the start of her downward spiral and the inevitable trip to the 'cat farm'. Which is where we jokingly say cats go when they well....go away. But the vet ran the usual battery of tests and said she was 'ok'. As ok as you can be with a terminal kidney illness anyway. There's a certain marker protein or something that shows up in the blood? or urine? when the kidneys start shutting down and so far she doesn't have that. So we figure she was just having a bad day that day. While she's still wobbly, she's been able to jump up on her tree ok since then.

As for me had another follow up with my cardiologist. Basically nothing has changed since last time as my heart function is still at 35%. So good news in that at least it's not worse I suppose. He again suggested a pace maker and I again said no bloody way. My plan is to still keep on losing weight and hit my new target by the end of the year. Then I'll get re-tested for sleep apnea, and hopefully with the weight loss that will have improved which in turn should help my heart. I also did just see an ad on TV for a new drug to treat heart failure and improve pumping action. I can't remember the name offhand, but Chris wrote it down somewhere for me. Of course it came with the usual nonsensical warnings...may cause your ass to explode, consult a doctor. But I'll look into it. Maybe it won't have the side effects that the other drugs I've tried have had.

Still on the health train of thought, we were all saddened when a friend of our's lost her mother recently to cancer. Chris drove out to BC to be with Deb and her family and was with Ann at the end. She was a terrific lady and I'm thankful to have known her. On the flip side my bestie Jamie was given the all clear and is officially cancer free which is all kinds of awesome. So right now, in my personal experience, Stage 1 Cancer is highly treatable and a good outcome likely. Anything beyond Stage 1 - well, not so much.

Onto yard news...

The landscaping is finished! The 'boys' wrapped everything up last week and Chris & I are super happy with the results. Our furniture and the fire table are also in town, but we're having them hold off on delivery until work on the pergola is complete. That work consists of installing the downspouts, running all the wiring and hooking up the speakers and light, and installing the retractable screens. Of course we were ever naive in thinking this would all be done in time for us to spend the summer enjoying our new outdoor space. July was with the exception of the last few days a total waste of a month with shitty weather and it looks like the remaining work won't be finished until mid-August (hopefully). Oh well, at least we'll get a month or so of enjoyment out of it before the icy grip of winter envelopes us once again. I'll post pictures when everything is done.

Been frustrated and stressed out a lot lately with life, work, the yard work etc. Looking forward to our next vacation in the fall which is another cruise - I know, shocking right? We'll be doing what they classify as a New England trip. Although unlike most of those cruises the majority of stops are in Canada. It's also pretty unique in that we overnight in both Quebec City and in New York City - plus there's a stop in Newfoundland which I've always wanted to visit. And because most of it is in Canada we won't have to deal with the stupid exchange rate. About the only downside is it's an older ship. But again, this trip is all about the iternary.

Suppose I should go and get another hour of sleep or so. Enjoy what's left of Summer!

Happy Canada Day!

While I've enjoyed a long, long weekend, sadly it's back to the daily grind tomorrow. Chris has been away in BC with friends and family so I've had the place to myself. Which sounds like a great idea, but true to form it wasn't long before I was missing her - and having full on conversations with the cat as if it was another person. I didn't really do a lot other than putter around and hang in the garage watching reality TV. Ok, I guess I got in a bunch of walking as well. Another month where I've done over 100km walking. We'll see what the scale says tomorrow, but having passed 250lbs my next goal is to hit 225 by the end of the year - basically a pound a week which is more than doable.

Had a bit of a health scare last weekend (what else is new). Chris & I were out getting groceries after having done our usual breakfast stop at Good Earth. We both had to pee so ran into the washrooms at the grocery store. While I'm doing my thing in the urinal I glanced down and saw something red shoot out. It took me a second or so to comprehend what I just saw. And sure enough in the urinal there was this bloody stringy tendril thingie. Pretty sure at that point all the colour had drained out of my face as when Chris saw me she was like 'what's wrong'? Hoping it was maybe a one off I just continued on with my day. But then every time I'd go I'd watch and sure enough there'd be blood in the stream. So at this point I'm kinda freaking out and so we called the Health Link line, and buddy was concerned with it having to do with my blood thinners and advised we go see someone right away. And of course it was on a Saturday and my Doctor's office was closed. So we went to the emergency care clinic in Airdrie which I'd been to once previously when I was dumb and sliced open my hand.

So they felt me up, did a bunch of blood tests, had me pee in a cup etc. While peeing in the cup I realized I wasn't peeing blood - it was more accurate to say I was peeing blood clots. Floating in the cup was one of the clots. After much nervous pacing back and forth they told me all the blood tests were fine. Kidneys were fine, Liver was fine (really??), coagulation levels were fine. But they wanted me to go and have an ultrasound done on my bladder. I had one of those done before and it was torture. They make you drink a crap tonne of water beforehand so that your bladder is full and while you're endlessly waiting in the waiting room you're worried you're going to piss yourself, then when you finally get on the table they're pushing on it with the device. Luckily as my form was marked Urgent I got an appointment the next day or so. But the next day I got a call from my Doctor's office saying she wanted to see me right away. So of course now I'm freaking out convinced I have cancer or something for her to want to see me right away. In the end I managed to get her on the phone versus having to go in to her office and she told me my scan was fine. That these things 'sometimes just happen'.  Thankfully it stopped after a couple days, so who knows. Once again I'm an enigma to modern science.

On to progress with our renovations...The pergola is in and mostly done, we just need to get the permanent and retractable screens installed plus the speakers and lights. But that's on hold until the landscaper finishes installing the patio stones. Supposedly that's going to happen sometime in the next week or so. I'm going to hold off posting pictures of that until everything is all finished.

However the solar install is finished!

Solar Output Reading

We are now the proud owners of 26 panels on our roof and a combination Inverter/EV charger. As you can see above, on a good day we're able to generate over 7 kilowatts of power. Due to the challenging shape of our roof we had to put some panels on the front, on the one side, and on the back - versus having one large bank. I think that's probably a good thing as we can capture the morning sun, maximum output at noon, and the evening sun. And due to the height of the roofs and closeness with our neighbor you can't really see the panels on the one side or even really from the front of the house. It's mostly the back panels that are noticeable and even then they don't really stand out that much.

I'll wait to get our electrical bill for the month of July in order to do a comparison, but we really won't have an accurate picture until an entire year has gone by and be able to do some savings/break even calculations. So as of now, other than a couple show homes, I think we're just the third residential install in Calgary's largest community. Which frankly is pretty sad. But I get that not many people want to make such an investment. For us, honestly, if it wasn't for the rebate that we got - which our new premier has promised to eliminate - I don't know if it'd make sense from a purely financial point of view. But overall we're quite pleased we made the move.

Now off to fire up the BBQ and enjoy the rest of the holiday!

Got back from our latest cruising adventure exactly a week ago.

And not coincidentally we've also been sick for exactly a week now. Because you know, that's what happens when we travel. One of us - this time both of us - inevitably gets sick. It's to the point where we're seriously questioning the wisdom of even vacationing anymore. What's the point of going on a 2 week trip if you're going to lose a week (and counting) of work afterwards. Even more frustrating is we literally could not have done more to avoid getting sick this trip. We sanitized our hands like crazy, avoided touching public surfaces, ate healthy, exercised, limited the boozing, got lots of rest etc.

So what affliction are we suffering with? Who knows? Two trips to the doctor and two trips to diagnostic clinics and the best modern science can give us is a shrug of the shoulders. For me who has been hit harder than Chris they at least ruled out pneumonia. I assumed that was my issue because as has happened in the past I was having breathing issues whereby my lungs were all gurgly and I couldn't sleep because whenever I'd lie down, even elevated, I wouldn't be able to breathe. The doctor did say that something 'new' was out there and they were being flooded with people complaining of similar symptoms - however different people were reacting to it differently. In my case she said I was having a severe asthmatic reaction - even though I've never had asthma before in my life. So now I'm taking steroid based anti-inflammatory and they appear to be helping.

In any event, as I usually do, I kept a short journal of our adventures:

First sea day....

Just finished my laps around the jogging track. Walking, not jogging, because that would be silly. I have however created my own customized course...at the one end of the loop I keep walking and go up three flights of stairs to the Solstice deck which goes around the back of the ship - so I almost double the length, work in some stairs, and avoid much of the waddlers...

So why am I talking about exercising on our vacation? Both Chris and I are trying to not gain the usual vacation 10 pounds. Doing a bunch of walking, taking the stairs, less boozing etc. We’ll see how successful we are when we get back. We did however get our Martini Bar on last night - and even Mom got in on the action. Other than our first night in Honolulu it was really the only time this trip we tied one on..

The vacation has been good. Chris and I had a lot of fun at our hotel in Honolulu -The Prince Waikiki. It was expensive as hell, but worth it. We hung out the first day at the pool area where they had an infinity pool overlooking the harbour. And we had access to the special lounge where we could get snacks and drinks and be served by Rininko - who as she told us when she introduced herself was Japanese. In fact it felt like we were in Tokyo again as there were Japanese people everywhere.

We met up the second day with our cruising pals Jake and Gary who were there on another cruise. It was good seeing them again and we had brunch and did some shopping. After that we had some more pool time - we were having so much fun we kept joking ‘we can’t forget to pick up our Mom’ as her flight came in that night. But we remembered to grab her and the next day we boarded the ship...

That ship was Celebrity Solstice...which we had been on almost a year previously on our ‘free’ cruise. This time our cabin was a suite at the back of the ship. We really liked it as unlike some of the other suites it was an open floor plan and felt quite spacious and the balcony was really large. We also had a private entrance to a sort of foyer outside our room which made us feel all special...

Our first stop was in Hilo and we didn’t really have a plan other than renting a car and toodling around. Unfortunately you had to catch a shuttle to the rental place and there were long lineups. Took almost 2 hours from when we got off the ship to when we pulled out of the parking stall. We went and visited a waterfall which while not breathtaking was quite pretty. Then we had a yummy lunch at this place called Ponds where the windows opened up and you could feed fish food to the Koi fish in the pond below. It was always a race to see who’d get there first, the fish or the ducks (usually the ducks). After we looked for some luggage for my Mom but couldn’t find what she wanted. That was pretty much it for the day...

The next day was much better when we stopped in Kona. We again rented a car but this time it was quick and easy. We went to one of the beaches and Chris & I got our snorkel on. I had bought a fancy full face mask due to the issues I keep having with the normal masks, but quickly discarded it for the regular one. Saw a bunch of fish but was sad I never got to see a turtle which was my main goal this trip. Then while I was walking to go get the car I glanced out at the beach and could see at least three of them in the shallow water - who according to a nearby lifeguard were feeding on the seaweed on the rocks. So while I didn’t get to see them while I was in the water I was still quite happy overall.

Then we went and visited a coffee farm called Kona Joes. I was expecting the usual by the numbers tourist trap, but it turned out to be great and was actually interesting. The guide was also really good with Mom and the coffee super yummy. After it was over we sat down outside the gift shop overlooking a gorgeous view and just taking in the beauty of it all. It was a great day.

From there we spent two days in Maui which was supposed to be the highlight of the trip. We had booked both a helicopter tour and a Luau for the first day. Well we get to the helicopter place which was literally on the other side of the island after a 50 minute Uber ride only to be told it was cancelled. We were given the option to rebook it, but they said the weather wasn’t looking good for the next day either - and while they refunded our money we faced being out of pocket (roughly $160) yet again for the cost to get there and back. So we didn't rebook. We called another Uber and went back to the port and drowned our sorrows with a couple pints at a yummy pub called Captain Jacks. We headed back to the ship to get ready to come back again for our Luau later that night.

And that leads me to bitch about the amount of tendering we had to do this trip. Usually we’d end up tendering maybe once per cruise, but this time it seemed like it was every stop. It was made worse by the fact that the waves were really rough in Maui and they had to reduce the number of available boats - plus for some reason they couldn’t figure out how to time one tender leaving as another one was arriving. So there’d be a tender traffic jam as you had to wait, sometimes for two other boats. Meanwhile you’re waiting in those claustrophobic life boats bobbing up and down in the ocean like a cork bottle...

The Luau started off fine and was kinda neat not knowing what to experience. But the food while tasty was a bit of a let down just as I expected there to be a bigger feast. The entertainment was good, but after almost three hours, we were waiting for the big payoff of the fire dance - you know, the one clip you see each and every time you’ve ever seen an advertisement throughout history for Hawaii - and suddenly the show ended. No fire dance. So now I’m really annoyed that what was supposed to be the best part of our trip sucked - compounded by the fact that my Mom and Dad had done a helicopter tour on their last trip there - one of their last big vacations before he died. And I wanted for her to be able to re-experience that with me. And then of course having to once again tender back in even rougher water for what was now the sixth time and well, I kinda lost my shit...

Thankfully, the next day was better and we went back in to town for lunch and to wander around. We ate at Fleetwoods which is owned by the Fleetwood Mac guy - it was ok, but we liked the other place better. For some reason Maui is a big art hub and there were a tonne of art galleries along the Lahaina strip. So I was in my element. I found one painting that I loved but Chris was mean and wouldn’t let me buy it. That said, it’s burning a hole in my soul not owning it....we’ll see. The tender back was super rough, but this time being in a better mood I was ok with it - it was basically a free roller coaster ride.

And that was Hawaii. While I enjoyed it I don’t know that I’d be in a hurry to go back. For the travel time to get there (as you can’t get a direct flight) I’d much rather go to the Caribbean. And while the scenery was pretty it frankly doesn’t compare to other places we've been like say the Azores or Madeira. But we still have a couple of sea days to go before we’re home. Sadly as we get closer the temperature keeps dropping. So today we’re calling a Spa day and are hanging in the Solarium, doing some swimming and hot tubbing.

It’s been fun having my Mom on the trip. I know she’s enjoyed it. I wasn’t quite sure how we’d balance our time between doing our thing and hanging with her, but we quickly established a routine that seems to work. She’s also made some friends with her smoking buddies.

As usual we’ve really enjoyed the food on the ship and our cabin steward and Butler have been terrific. Probably the biggest nice surprise has been all the quality musical entertainment. It’s all been terrific - and there’s this Violin duo which we’ve really liked. We’re going to be sure to mention them on the comments card. On the Casino side we’ve of course lost money but had fun doing so. Yesterday we did a glass blowing class which was a lot of fun, the girls that worked at the studio did the dangerous handling but we actually got hands on in making our creations. I know I had a big ass smile on my face throughout the process.

We’re just going to relax and take it easy these next two days and then sadly it’s back to reality.

Here's some pictures of the fun:

First a health update...

It's been seven weeks now since my Tinnitus came back. At this point I have to assume it's permanent and that I'll never know silence again. It is what it is. No cure, no hope, just constant ringing - or in my case humming/buzzing. Unless you have it, you simply do not understand it or why its so dehabilitating. There also seems to be no rhyme or reason. I'll go for a few days with it at a low level and I'll actually sleep through the night, and then there'll be days where it's especially annoying and like right now I'll be up at 2:30am after only a few hours sleep surfing the web and pondering life. Not a huge deal on days like today where I have it off or it's a holiday, considerably more annoying when you have to be up in a couple hours to go to work and can't nap later on.

Still I have moments of hope. A week ago today, it completely disappeared (for about 10 minutes) and I was freaking out - afraid to even move for fear of it returning. I even wrote down a journal of everything I did and ate that day in the likely futile attempt that I'll be able to recreate that magic mixture - mix Vitamin C, Echinacea tea, and curried Hummus - and be cured. Cured I say! Praise Jesus! Sorry, I get a bit silly when I'm strung out. It could be worse I guess, I mean at least I still have all my limbs right?

At least I'm continuing to lose weight. I recently hit my goal of losing 50 pounds. And while that sounds really impressive it depends upon how you look at it. Yes in terms of absolute weight loss it has been 50 pounds. But half of that as previously detailed was from my meds and simply stopping them got the process going. That said, I still had to work to lose it. I've had a couple people comment on me looking good which is always nice. I'm going to continue doing what I do. I hope to lose at least another 25 pounds by the end of the year. So what's my secret? Just three simple things. I do a lot of walking - I typically do 6-7km outside or 30 mins on the elliptical. I also do some weight training, usually a couple times a week on my Bowflex for roughly 30 minutes at a time. Finally Chris and I have slowly shifted how we eat to consuming less and less carbs. We're not strictly anti-carb, I still enjoy having sandwiches and what not, but our dinners almost always consist of just meat and vegetables. In addition, Chris has been working hard at being healthy as well and has lost a bunch of weight also. It helps when you have someone else to encourage and motivate you.

On to other things...

We're counting down the days until our Hawaii cruise. Something that I didn't think would ever happen considering we had booked and then cancelled this trip twice now due to various reasons. So I'm looking forward to getting away as other than a few days at Christmas time I really haven't had a break from work in almost a year. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy right?

Regarding the yard work, we're in a holding pattern right now. The electrical guys are coming next week to do some work - for whatever reason the original landscapers only ran a single speaker wire outside and I never noticed. I just saw the coil of wire rolled up and assumed all was good. Thankfully it was all run through conduit, so we should be able to get a 2nd line out there in addition they're going to run some Ethernet - because why not? Maybe I want another webcam. As well they're going to prep the electrical so the outlet out there is always on but I'll also be able to switch on and off the pergola light both via a mechanical switch in the house and via Control 4. I discussed my vision of the pergola with the manufacturer and they're going to have to fabricate a custom centre beam - inside will be the speakers and a recessed LED light strip.

As for the solar install, we're still waiting. I'm hoping they will be able to start next month.

We can't wait until everything is finally done. If I'm going to suffer with this condition at least I can make it bearable while relaxing in our shaded pergola while listening to tunes and enjoying a bevvie.

Cheers!

As the graphic says, the past couple weeks have seemingly been nothing but appointments for me.

Doctors appointments, dermatologist appointment, car appointments etc. Basically, if there was an appointment to be had, I was likely there for it. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate having to go to these things. Having to wait forever and then when you finally get called you simply get to go to a smaller waiting room. Sigh.

My visit to the doctor was supposed to bring good news. I had previously gone off my meds as the side effects were freaking me out and driving me crazy. I had hoped through exercise and healthier living that I'd be back on the path to wellness. Well turns out my latest echo test showed that my heart function had regressed to back where it was when I was almost hospitalized over a year ago when my lungs started filling up with blood. So despite dropping 50 pounds and feeling better than I have in years it was all for nothing. So my cardiologist again brought up going on a pacemaker - the idea of which scares the hell out of me. Your life literally at the whim of some corporate device. And it wouldn't cure me, I'd still be in Afib and still need to take blood thinners the rest of my life.

So I struck a deal with my doctor that I'd go back on the meds at a low dose. My issues seemed to start happening after he had kept increasing dosages. So I went back on them and almost instantly I got ringing in the ears again. Stopped taking them and right now praying to the Gods that it's not permanent and goes away again. One last thing I'm going to try is see if he'll write me a prescription for Nadalol which is another beta blocker, unfortunately not cardio selective however - but supposedly it has less instances of causing hearing issues than Bisoprolol.

So I've been extremely stressed out lately. I'm basically running out of options at this point.

As the weather has sucked so bad for so long during the past month Chris and I have been doing a bunch of puzzling. Years ago I always thought jigsaw puzzles were something old people did - and now I find myself doing them. Chris got me a 3D Game of Thrones puzzle for Christmas so at some point in the new year I had at it. I hadn't done a 3D puzzle before and it was definitely challenging. The idea was I'd work on it a bit at a time and take most of winter to finish it. But of course, being that it was a challenge I just couldn't leave it alone and obsessed over finishing it.

Winter is Here

Since I finished that one Chris and I have finished another two (regular) puzzles and are now working on our third. So yes, we are officially old now.

Work is supposedly progressing on the website overhaul. Last communication I had with the web design company was that they should have something for me this week to test out. So again, hopefully things will be updated soon. Oh, speaking of the website, you may have noticed the one camera feed from the Livecam is down. Sadly my ridiculously expensive network camera died a week ago or so. And all the replacement options for it don't support a drop ceiling mount. So despite not being supported by the manufacturer anymore, I ended up having to order another one of the same model off Amazon. But sadly it won't be here for roughly a month. So until then you'll have to make do with checking out the bunny tracks in the snow in our back yard.

Finally we got word a few days ago that our application for the Government solar rebate was approved. And I think it was on the same day that I read that should we have a likely change in the Provincial government next election that they were going to kill the rebate program. So my instincts were right to get everything going when I did.

Stay warm!

You may have noticed a lack of posts lately...

My website host recently removed support for FrontPage Extensions (without telling me). So when I last updated the website, any page that I had updated that had the year linkbar in it suddenly broke. So as you can see here, there no longer is the menu bar with the various years showing as I had to remove it.

Last year I looked at somewhat updating the site to a slightly newer platform - Microsoft Expressions - and had started working on it and then my hard drive crashed and I lost everything. I thought about hiring a web designer to just do it for me but my laziness got in the way. Fast forward until now and I once again started working on a new site design. I got about 75% of the way in terms of the look I wanted, which wasn't a huge change, just a bit more refined. But I couldn't figure out how to handle everything collapsing properly when resized to look ok on smartphones or tablets. With enough time I probably could have figured it out, but now that the site was somewhat broken I decided to just bite the bullet and hire a professional.

So I found a local developer and will be working with them to get everything updated. It took me awhile to find someone because when I mentioned the platform I wanted to use I'm sure they thought I was some web luddite. It was painfully obvious how much technology had passed me by since I started the site. Most everyone was like 'why don't you use Wordpress'? As Wordpress is the current darling of bloggers. It basically gives you drag and drop web publishing. All you have to do is write your post, drag a few pictures into it and Bob's your Uncle. That said, and despite offering a number of templates, for me, all Wordpress sites look the same. And I wanted mine to retain it's look. I also wanted to still do this somewhat old school and be involved in the coding and understanding how everything worked.

So hopefully in the next few weeks I'll be able to unveil the new improved look.

Banff Snow Days

Last month the Blanices (Blaine and Janice) and Mori (Matthew and Dori) came with us to Snow Days in Banff which is a winter festival that happens every year in January. We decided to be all fancy and stay at the Banff Springs hotel and I have to say I was quite impressed with it. Chris & I had stayed there once before but had were in the main building and our room was laughably small. This time however we stayed in the 'newer' Gatehouse wing and had a really nice suite. We hung out in the pool, I went for my walks, and just had a great time. We also went to Lake Louise where they had their ice carving contest and in downtown Banff they had snow carvings. All in all a really nice getaway with friends.

Last post I mentioned we were thinking of going Solar. Well it's official now and the contract is signed. Likely in April or May we'll have a bunch of panels on our roof generating electricity. So I'm excited for that. As for finishing the yard, we put down a deposit with a company that builds fancy metal pergolas to hold our place in their schedule this year. We also got in touch with a landscaper who does smaller jobs and once the snow is gone we'll get together to discuss what needs to be finished. Hopefully come summer time it will all be done and we'll be able to spend our days lounging outside in total comfort.

Happy New Year!

As usual we rang in the New Year at the neighbors but this year was a little subdued. I wasn't feeling great and Chris called it just after midnight as neither was she. Which was probably good as I had started to listen to Tool and that never ends well. The neighbors were also disappointed at the turn out as they said each year it seems less and less people pop in. So we might just pub it this year instead.

Prior to that we went to Kananaskis for a big get together with Chris' family. We stayed at the lodge there which is where her Mom and Step-dad got married 17? years ago which was pretty cool. Wow, can't believe it's been that long. We had a great time despite half the family being sick with some kind of stomach bug. One day I went for a long walk through the mountains and it was just me in the wilderness stomping through the snow with amazing views all around. Another day we all went for a massage at the spa and while it might not have been the best I've ever had it was definitely up there. And one night we hung outside by a fire and listened to carolers and drank really yummy mulled wine concoctions. So unlike the last big get together, this time we actually took advantage of a lot of the activities they had going on.

There was also a professional photographer who took a bunch of family photos. While she was really good, especially in regards to keeping the kids attention and getting good energy from the, my favourite photo of the trip is a selfie that Chris took of us. Awwww. Aren't we cute? A big thanks to Jim & Karen for putting on such a great gathering.

Fun in Kananaskis

Of course not all is sunshine and rainbows. A few weeks ago we found out my bestie Jamie has cancer. I can't imagine what he and his family are going through. When I first heard my initial reaction was to remember my Dad and think 'here we go again'. But according to the experts it's 'only' stage one and there's a high survivability rate. You don't want to make it about you, but you're reminded of your own mortality. You plan for the future and make various plans for some distant day, but it all could come quickly crashing down in an instant. But he's strong and he'll get through this. He also started a blog detailing what he is going through. I think it's great he's doing that, I'm sure it's not only helpful for him to express himself but also for others not only to find out how he's doing but to also better understand what a horrible disease it is.

On to other things...

Currently trying to figure out finances for the year and make plans for our various trips and never ending renovations as well. We're actually meeting with a Landscaper tomorrow to discuss what we want done to finish off the yard. Hopefully things go well and I get a good vibe from them. We want the yard finally finished this year. I can't wait to be able to go out and enjoy the summer in a nice shaded structure, with a cool drink in hand, listening to some tunes and relax myself into oblivion.

As previously mentioned, I'm also toying with maybe going Solar this year. We have a meeting with an installer in a couple weeks. Financially it's probably not the smartest decision with the payback period likely a decade, but I'm not doing it just to save money. Obviously that's part of it - I look to the future when I'm retired and on a fixed income and it'd be nice to half our electricity bills dramatically reduced - but there's also the environmental aspect as well. Plus my next vehicle is likely to be electric and it'd be nice to have the sun effectively powering it. I'll have a better idea how everything will shake out by the end of the month.

Wow. I can't believe the year is almost over.

A quick update on my health. As detailed previously, I've gone off my heart meds, instead hoping that lifestyle changes will be enough to keep me healthy. I have a follow up next month with my cardiologist and will have another holter monitor test and echocardiogram done. He seems convinced I'm bound for heart failure again, I'm convinced I'm not. Guess we'll see who's right in the end.

I've continued with the walking but I've also been throwing in some strength training with my Bowflex. So far I've lost 30 pounds and have 15 more to go to my initial target. I say initial because obviously if I lose more great, but for me this is the goal I'm striving towards mostly psychologically but also practically - for our upcoming Hawaii trip we want to do a helicopter tour and we have to be under a certain weight.

I wasn't sure how much longer I'd be able to keep walking outside now that Winter is here, but so far the weather has cooperated. That said, last weekend I was out walking and slipped on the ice and landed on my head. I've talked about it in detail on Facebook, but I may or may not have lost consciousness and when I came to I didn't know where I was, what day it was, what I had done the previous night etc. Thankfully I somehow managed to text Chris and she came and got me. We called the Health Link and they had us call an ambulance and the Paramedics checked me out. They advised me to go to the hospital as I might have had internal bleeding but I declined. My head still hurts to the touch but I'm fine now - other than sadly the 'ringing' in my ears has returned after having previously stopped.

Lake Louise Fun

The big event last month was Chris' birthday where we went to Banff along with the Blanices and Maury (what we now Mathew and Dori) plus all the kidlets. It was a lot of fun. I always wonder why we don't go there more often as it's so close by and we always enjoy going there. Hailey and her friends also came out the one day and we went to Lake Louise which I hadn't been to since I was a kid. It was a little breezy on the lake but the scenery was gorgeous. We also went to their Christmas market where we got to peruse the various vendors, hang out by the fire, and see all the animals.

Coming up we're doing a family Christmas in Kananaskis which we're looking forward to and then it's New Years and 2018 will be at a close.

Overall it's been a pretty decent year, but I'm really looking forward to the next one. Not only do we plan on going on two kick ass cruises but we should finally be getting the yard finished. And depending on how the money situation works out - we may end up going Solar next year as well. I'm in the initial stages of talking to various installers. We thought we might look at doing this in a few years, but I'm worried with a likely change in the Provincial government, the current rebate program might get cancelled. So better to do it now.

Here's hoping everyone has a safe and fun holiday season!

Yes, it's going to be one of those health update posts...

Early last month I woke up wondering what the hell that low frequency rumble was reverberating throughout the house. It was driving me crazy so I stormed outside wandering around the neighborhood like a crazy person at 3am trying to identify the source. The only thing I could think that might be causing it was a neighbor's pool pump about six houses down that was rattling away. So I went home, typed out a letter asking if he could do something about it, and put the letter under the wipers of his truck.

The next day I wandered around the house and noticed the noise was worse in certain areas of the house than others. I had to resort to sleeping downstairs on the couch because I found the noise from the refrigerator helped drown out the other noise which was preventing me from getting sleep. After several days of hardly sleeping I was worn out, extremely bitchy (sorry Chris), and super frustrated. Of course not being able to sleep I would spend my nights surfing the web and reading all these horror stories about 'the hum' or how it could be this or that thing in one's house causing it. So roughly a week later when I got home I shut off all the power to the house, turned on all the taps etc. trying to at least isolate the cause because at this point I was convinced it was something in the house causing it - most annoying, Chris couldn't hear it at all. None of this worked as I was still hearing the noise.

I then hopped in the car with a pair of noise cancelling headphones and drove a few blocks away, would stop the car, put the headphones on and would still hear it. So I'd repeat this process driving further and further out. Eventually I drove 30km away out in the countryside where you could hear a pin drop. Turned off the car and instantly the noise enveloped me. It was at that point I realized I had Tinnitus. Obviously I had read that as being a possibility early on but had dismissed it as it's usually described as a 'ringing' in the ears - whereas I had this low buzzing/rumbling.

So I went to my GP, she looked at my ears and said she didn't see anything unusual, no large buildup of wax, no infection. I then went to a hearing centre where they put me in a soundproof booth and tested my hearing. It came back as better than normal. I hadn't been exposed to any loud noises recently (no concerts) and as I work in an office I'm not exposed to unusual noise levels either. The only thing I could think of was as part of my ongoing efforts of trying to deal with my Atrial Fibrillation (AF) my cardiologist had been upping my dosage of Bisoprolol to try and slow my heart rate down.

So then I go online and read all these horror stories as to how this class of drugs (Beta blockers) cause all kinds of side effects - including Tinnitus, although supposedly rare (lucky me).

In addition, despite all the walking I'd been doing (averaging more than 100km a month) I was actually gaining weight. At the worst I hit 299lbs. Of course when I mentioned my frustration with that to my GP she said the kneejerk response of 'well even though you're exercising you can't keep eating crap' - assuming that all I'm doing all day is downing pop and eating cheeseburgers. I felt like punching her in the head. Then I read that another gem of a side effect of this class of drugs is - you guessed it - weight gain! Essentially they can suppress your metabolism by up to 50%.

So here you have people taking this drug to slow their heart, which in turn makes them fatter, which in turn puts more stress on their heart - and of course the Doctor's solution is to simply increase the dosage making the problem even worse!!!

At this point, much like I did a few years ago with that hideous drug Amiodarone I said enough and stopped taking it. Which as I read you're not supposed to do as you can actually end up having a heart attack or thyroid storm as your body is suddenly swamped with all the adrenaline which up until then had been suppressed. But I was desperate to make the Tinnitus go away and terrified that the damage was already done and would be permanent. You read about people offing themselves to get relief, and honestly, I get it.

Fast forward to now, roughly a month later and the noise is still there, but much reduced and to the point now where I can at least get a decent sleep. In addition, with no other changes to my lifestyle besides stopping my medication, I dropped 20lbs within two weeks. I also for the first time in over a year (about when I first started the meds) was getting a good night sleep - not just in duration but in quality. I would actually wake up and not feel tired for a change. Apparently insomnia/sleep problems is yet another known side effect.

As for my routine of walking, it was no longer a major effort - previously it'd feel like I was moving my legs through wet cement and I'd get home and almost immediately need to lie down for a nap as it would feel like I was going to pass out. In addition, with the MapMyWalk app that I use it showed that I was shaving an entire minute/km off my time which is huge.

Kardia Mobile Sensor/App

My hope was through continued exercise and just trying to be healthier I would be able to keep my heart rate down naturally and avoid the pharmaceutical nightmare of the past. But I had a 24hr holter monitor a couple weeks ago and was dismayed that my average heart rate was around 100. I was actually frustrated because I had downloaded an app for my iPhone called Cardiio which would record your pulse rate and was taking it several times a day and on the day of my Holter test it was recording high 70's to low 80's. In addition, with Chris' issues we had purchased a medical grade blood pressure monitor while I also used and recorded twice daily and it had similar (maybe slightly higher) readings.

So once again I was super frustrated and trying to make sense of the disparity in readings. So I then bought another device which had good reviews and apparently which some doctors are using to monitor their patients. After having it just a couple days it unfortunately seemed to confirm the results of my holter monitor - it was giving results in the low 100's.

As an example, I just did a comparison of all three within a minute of each other:

Lifesource BP monitor - 93

Cardiio Heart Rate app - 80

Kardia Mobile ECG app - 111

Now bear in mind that with my AF it's possible that the first two simply aren't able to accurately determine your heart rate because of the inconsistent pulse. But the Kardia device is designed to detect AF (which it does for me) so I'm guessing it is more accurate.

As a comparison, I had Chris who is not in AF do the exact same test, this is her results:

Lifesource BP monitor - 68

Cardiio Heart Rate app - 70

Kardia Mobile ECG app - 65

So the conclusion is that for a person in sinus rhythm all three give fairly accurate results, but for a person in AF they can be off by as much as 30%.

Obviously my Cardiologist was quite concerned with me stopping the medication, but to his credit he didn't outright dismiss my allegation that it caused the Tinnitus. He came up with another drug - Atenolol - which supposedly doesn't have that listed as a possible side effect, however I did notice that it's perhaps the worst for causing weight gain. I just can't freakin win. If after a couple days of monitoring my heart rate is still around 100 I'm going to go on the Atenolol although at a low dosage initially (my Cardiologist wanted my on 3 times the minimum dosage - um, no).

As he mentioned, if I can't keep my rate under control either naturally and I'm not willing or able to tolerate the drugs my only other option is a pacemaker. A pacemaker! I'm not even 50 yet!! Sometimes I think I should just kill myself.

A new month, a new rambling update…

Just got back from a lovely walk. As mentioned last time I've been walking up a storm this summer. I walked over 100km in July and also managed to walk over 100km in August. Now that it's September I'm hoping to go for the trifecta this month as well. Of course with all this exercise you'd think I'd be losing a bunch of weight right? Sadly no. Nothing. So that's extremely frustrating. But I'm going to continue on anyway because, well, why not?

A couple weeks ago we went out to one of the companies we're looking at to do our back yard pergola. Got to kick the tires so to speak and get some rough pricing. Then in the afternoon we met with someone from the other company and detailed our vision and threw some ideas back and forth. We'll likely end up going with them, although I'm waiting to find out from the other guy if they're going to be carrying this one product line I have my heart set on next year or not. No, these aren't your typical slapped together wood pergolas. They're made out of heavy duty aluminum with rain and wind sensors, one-way privacy screens and/or sliding glass panels with built in shutters. In addition to us having electrical, gas fire-pit, and outdoor speakers tied into our whole house automation system.

Yesterday Chris & I met Tracy, her friend Nyree and the kids downtown to attend the Circle Carnival festival. It was basically a big music event with food trucks and beer gardens galore. However the real reason Chris wanted to go was because they also had wiener dog races. Although we aren't dog people, wiener dogs tend to delight us. I'm not sure what theme the organizers were trying to go for - best guess was a Victorian/Steam Punk vibe. Although a lot of people just made it an opportunity to dress up weird. It was a fun time though. There were a few grey hairs in the crowd, but I did definitely felt a bit old and out of place. Still, beer is beer. We were actually reminiscing recently how much we missed X-Fest which was the local alternative radio station's yearly two-day concert. We attended a couple of them in the past, with the last one being three years ago (can't believe it was that long ago). For whatever reason they stopped having them, but we were thinking this could maybe take it's place. We'll see what happens next year.

Circle: The Traveling Food, Beer & Music Carnival

Now that summer is over we can look forward to six months of misery. But at least we've got something going on every month. Next month we're going to go see Craig Ferguson and spend the night at the casino hotel there. In November we're going to have a staycation to celebrate Chris' birthday and hang out downtown, and in December we're going to Kananaskis to have Christmas with the family. And then it's the new year! So hopefully all the activities keep me busy and fend off the end of the year doldrums.

Cough. Hack. Sneeze. No, not a cold, just the lovely haze from the forest fires next province over. Apparently this is now going to be the new normal. So we'll now basically have just one month of Summer as the 2nd month will be spent inside trying to avoid hospitalization from smoke inhalation. I guess it's still better than snow and winter.

Right? Right?!?!?!

This week has been a bit of a weird one. I was on a training course, but instead of being in a classroom as I've normally done in the past, this time it was an online course which meant I got to do it from home. It was still instructor led and being taught in a classroom with a student in Toronto. In addition to myself there was also another student taking it online in Norway. Truly a global setup - so that was kind of neat. Although I didn't have to do the daily commute to work I still had to getup at my usual time due to the time difference. The course itself was on administering SUSE Linux. So I'll now be able to be an L33t Hax0r (elite hacker). Hey! Look at me, I should be on Mr. Robot.

The week before that I had a few days off which I just spent hanging around the house. Although we held off on any big projects this year, I did manage to get a bunch of smaller maintenance type things done. I fixed a big, long crack on the concrete steps at the front door. Took me several attempts with the crack filler and mixing in sand before I was satisfied with the results. We contacted the Gutter Doctor to come and fix an issue with the eavestrough over the back deck. Whenever snow would melt or a hard rain would happen the water wasn't going into the gutter instead of was simply following along the wall and then dripping down onto the deck. The day before buddy showed up I also noticed that some of the wall flashing in the front of the house was lifting up so I had him fix that as well. We also had one of the landscaping lights that had burnt out in the back yard fixed. Finally I fixed the central vacuum exhaust flap that had broken off on the side of the house. So I was pleased to get all that accomplished.

Speaking of accomplishing things...as mentioned previously I was in a contest last month to see who could cumulatively do the most walking. Mid-way through I realized that 100km was possible so I made that my goal. I'm extremely happy to say that I was successful! I ended up walking 103.3km. My competitor Jay sadly didn't do as well - oh well, in your face Jay!

Last weekend Chris went to the neighbor's cabin on the lake which is somewhere near Red Deer. For the past few years the whole community there has had Halloween in Summer. Everyone get's dressed up, takes the kids trick or treating, and the adults will basically get hammered. I declined to go as frankly I'm afraid of what a shit show it would likely turn into. Plus I'm sure my liver was relieved. But Chris had fun even though it turned out to be a bit more subdued this year as the host Colleen ended up with the stomach flu and was sick the whole time. They keep working on me to go, we'll see, maybe next year.

Poor Sick Kitty

And in some not great news, we took our beloved JC in to the Vet for a checkup and her blood results weren't good. She's apparently in stage 3 of kidney failure. Naturally I Googled the hell out of that and the consensus is that while it's terminal it's treatable - meaning she could still be with us for a few more years. In the interim we're slowly moving her onto a new special diet and we also have to give her IV fluids every few days. She had her first treatment today and it wasn't as bad as we feared. Unlike with people you're not injecting into a vein, you just need to put the needle under her skin which you do by pinching a spot on their back. She fussed a little bit but we're hoping she'll get used to it over time. She's old and we knew that we'd be facing something like this eventually. But coming only a few months after losing Mindy it's a kick to the gut.

Ho hum. Another lazy summer day. Not much new and exciting has been going on, but I feel obligated to give some sort of update on here.

Summer so far has been good. Mostly spent just puttering around in the yard, weeding, watering, mowing, lounging. One of our outdoor lights has burnt out, and after looking it up was annoyed to find that you can't simply replace the bulb you need to replace the entire light at $250 a pop. So we called the company that did our yard hoping that there's at least a year warranty on them. This is the same company I was in contact with earlier this year to get the yard finished and who I was waiting on a final quote from and then they just seemingly dropped off the face of the planet. So we're somewhat curious if they're actually going to follow through with replacing the light.

I've also been doing a bunch of walking - although today the laziness factor is rather high - awhile ago my bestie Jay challenged me to a walk off which originally was going to be in May, but as we were gone for half that month I suggested July instead. We're both using the MapMyWalk app which tracks your route, calories, time, distance and sends you weekly and monthly summaries. At the of the month we'll compare and see who 'won'. I'm a bit frustrated though, unlike last year which I lost quite a bit of weight from all my walking I haven't lost anything this year. That coupled with the fact I'm having issues - namely I'll get home from a moderate walk and feel like crap, get dizzy, and almost pass out. I think my meds need to adjusted. Specifically the one I'm taking that lowers my blood pressure. My blood pressure has always been good so I originally questioned it when I was prescribed it but was assured that it was needed. Well now I'm calling bullshit because I can't keep on like this. Being dizzy at work, struggling to stay awake etc.

I got a message from my heart doctor with the results of my last test. If the test was good then he'd only see me once a year and I'd just continue taking my meds and life would be peachy. But in the message he stated he's going away on holidays so he's sending a letter to my regular doctor to discuss the 'plan' going forward. Whatever the hell that means. In my mind it means I'm obviously dying and only have a few days to live. Chris thinks it's likely all sunshine and rainbows. Either way I'll find out in a couple weeks when I have my appointment.

Holiday wise we're done for the year. Chris was wanting to go with our friends to Mexico in October, which I know would be fun, but my time has already been allocated for the year. I had to remind her that technically we've already been on three trips this year. Even though it oddly seems like forever ago. Money also being a factor. I'll admit I'm having more than a bit of buyers remorse from buying all that artwork on our last trip. That said, once they're here and gracing our walls I know it'll make us very happy.

That's it for now, off to do some more puttering!

Hanging in the garage watching World Cup Football (Soccer) while it's pouring rain outside.

I had all kinds of plans to be productive today, but with the weather that all went out the window. So I might as well update the news instead. World Cup you say? Yes, somehow I started paying attention several years ago while I was in Vancouver on a course and it was being broadcast everywhere and I slowly but surely got into it. Then last go around I was taken by the plucky performance of little known Iceland and I've been cheering for them ever since. Sadly though it looks like their chance of advancing this year is hanging by a thread.

Besides confusing my friends with my sports viewing habits this month has been nothing but a blur of work and various doctor appointments for both myself and Chris. I usually don't talk about work, but recently I've been super stressed out. We've been having issues with one of our email servers and no one can seem to figure out what the problem is. Meanwhile users are getting annoyed and my manager is less than thrilled. It's gotten so bad that at times I've really been questioning how much longer I want to keep doing this. Especially when there's been a number of co-workers who have retired or will be retiring soon. While I'm happy for them, I won't deny there's a large degree of jealousy as well. Honestly if we hadn't moved and bought this ridiculously expensive house things would very likely be different right now. But then there's times where I really appreciate what we have - whether it being able to enjoy my garage as essentially an outdoor living space, watching movies in the home theatre, or hanging out in the back yard.

Speaking of that, for Father's Day, or what we like to call 'Auntie & Uncle's Day', Hailey swung by for a visit and we hung out in the back and played ladder ball and caught up. After she left I just stayed outside and did some weeding and general puttering. When that was done I just plunked down on the lawn chair and watched the world pass by until the sun began to set. It was one of those rare perfect days.

As for our usual health woes Chris had a holter monitor test whereby they hook you up to a machine that records your heart for 24 hours. This was in response to when she started feeling crappy while we were on vacation. She got the results a few days ago and she is in rhythm which is a huge relief to me, although she did have one episode of tachycardia (where your heart races) but our doctor said sometimes that happens even to healthy people. What was more concerning was that her heartbeat 'wave' was abnormal. So they're going to send her for more tests. As our doctor said while we were discussing the results 'what are we going to do with you two'…

A couple nights ago they had the 2nd annual food truck festival in our neighbourhood so we went and checked that out. We were smart this time and took chairs so we could sit while the other person went and waited in line to grab something. They had even more food trucks this time which was cool. I was enjoying things until my donair decided to literally explode all over me. It was like I had showered in donair sauce. But at least Chris found it amusing. Next year I think we'll have things perfected. In addition to chairs, we'll likely take some wine, and maybe a game to play and position ourselves a bit better as we were close to one of the roads where all the ice cream trucks decided to park. I love the 'ice cream!' jingle as much as the next person, but it got a bit old after hearing for the thousandth time. Normally after such an event we'd be tempted to cross the street and go to Pour, our local pub, for a few drinks - but we found out they were unceremoniously shut down yesterday for not paying their lease.

And going online it looks like the owner laid off all the staff without a final paycheque. So that sucks. While it wasn't our favourite place it was ok, and nice and close.  This coming on the news of Tudor Rose, another of our pubs we'd frequent although admittedly less since we moved, also shutting down. I hope we're not going down the road that England is whereby pubs are disappearing because no one can afford to go out anymore.

Maybe I should quit my stressful job and take over the local watering hole. I mean how hard can it be right???

Well we're back from our various trips and vacations.

First up was a trip to Vegas for work to attend Dell World. The most exotic place I'd been to previously on work's dime was to Vancouver so for me this was quite something. The first day or so I was basically a deer in the headlights trying to figure out where everything was and how it all worked. Over 20,000 geeks descending upon the Venetian for a week of seminars, labs, and a music concert by none other than Sting. It was a fun week even if the weather was uncharacteristically wet for a couple days. Oh, and I did manage to actually learn some things related to my job which is always nice.

Sadly after getting back Chris started to get sick. I don't know what it is, but half the time we go to Vegas one of us gets ill. And no it wasn't from any hard partying. Other than the night of the concert we were both somewhat restrained in our festivities. She went to the doctor when she got back and they said it was her asthma acting up and put her on some antibiotics. Then just before we left for our Alaska cruise she went for a follow up and they said she was getting better. Half way through the cruise she started getting sick again. So went to the medical clinic on the ship and they said she had bronchitis and gave her more antibiotics plus a few rounds of breathing through a inhaler mask. Fast forward to today and we spent a big chunk of the day at the hospital because she was having heart issues. After poking and prodding her and taking a chest x-ray they basically said she was fine. The heart issues were temporary and may have been caused by the asthma medication she was taking. Her chest X-ray came back clean. So who the hell knows. Of course I'm sick now as well, but unlike her I think it's just a cold. Sigh.

Despite the health issues we had a great time on our 'free' cruise - we saw some amazing scenery and it was enjoyable getting away from the world and just not giving a crap about what was going on in the news. Trump? Don't care. Terrorist attack? Don't care. Royal wedding? Don't care. Waiter I'll have another cervasca please. As I usually do on our cruises I wrote up a little journal of our experiences, and while I never got around to finishing it (missing our last couple days) here it is for your reading pleasure:

Currently Sunday? morning, docked in Ketchikan.

Wasn’t sure if I’d blog about this trip or not because it doesn’t really feel like a normal vacation - as we were comped the trip this time. Because we’ve bought so much art on our cruises in the past that Park West, the company that runs all the art auctions offered us this free trip to Alaska. We’ve been offered them in the past but turned them down as they were Caribbean cruises - which we love - however getting there was a pain as we could never get flights on points and I refused to pay for the flights for a ‘free’ trip. But as this one was out of Vancouver we went for it.

We’re on the Celebrity Solstice and if we haven’t been on her before we’ve been on her sister ships the Equinox and Reflection - so ship wise nothing new. But we like this class and Celebrity is our favourite cruise line.

Unfortunately Chris got sick when we got back from Vegas and although she seemed to be getting better before we left yesterday I had to take her to the medical facility to get an asthma treatment where she has to breathe through a mask for a half hour. She’s there again right now for another treatment. Hopefully things improve.

Despite that’s it’s been a good trip so far. This is probably the first time we’ve been on a cruise where we haven’t booked any excursions and we’re just gonna take it easy and relax. Partly because we’ve been here before and honestly I don’t think anything will top our experiences from last time and partly because I just really want to take it easy this cruise. The past few months have been pretty trying and we both really need this time to rejuvenate things...

Of course the reason the offer these trips is they’re counting on you buying even more art. They certainly are treating us like VIP’s and wining and dining us. We get to go to private art auctions and get to bid on works not shown to the general public. They even flew in the son of one of the featured artists who died a few years ago to talk about his work. I even got a fist bump from him as he liked my Commodore 64 shirt - yes, we’re totally classing the place up. We haven’t bid on anything yet, but yesterday over $200,000 was spent at the first auction. Not quiet in the same league as the regular ship auctions (update: in the end over $600,000 was sold).

Today after Chris gets back we’re just going to wander ashore for lunch. I’ll probably have some crab and maybe a few pints and then tonight we have another event where they’ll ply us (me) with free booze in the hope I lose reason and whip up that bid card.

Last sea day. Sadly the cruise is almost over. This ‘free’ cruise has naturally been quite expensive as of course we ended up buying more art. The first featured artist was this charming Korean man named Sam Park. While his style which is impressionistic isn’t really our thing we did end up getting a work of his which was a scene from Venice. Not only because we’ve been there but because we figured it’d be a good companion piece to another painting we have which is of a similar style. Today we got suckered into buying not one, not two, but three pieces from the artist Jim Warren. He’s more along the lines of what we typically like but unlike most artists he’s perfectly comfortable working in any number of styles. Now we just need to figure out where we’re going to put it all.

As for the cruise itself, we went ashore for a little bit in Ketchikan. I wandered around the town in the morning, remembering it from the last time we were there. It was a bittersweet experience as this was the last vacation we did with my parents while my Dad was still alive. We had such a great time that day with them. For Juneau it was crappy and raining so we just stayed on the ship. At our last Alaska port of Skagway we wandered around the town a bit and bought some touristy stuff and hung out at a couple of different Saloons. At their most famous one the waitresses were dressed up from the late 1800’s in corsets and bustiers with their ample cleavage spilling out. I’m sure I had a big grin on my face the whole time.

Wildlife wise we saw a bunch of bald eagles at the various ports and some whales breaching some distance from the ship . But the best was yesterday when a pod of porpoises came alongside the ship and were swimming directly below our balcony.

We’ve been pretty busy with all the art stuff, but last night the casino was nice to us for a change and Chris and I were on a slot machine across from each other. We both got multiple free spins and it was fun watching each other’s winnings grow in what was basically a race to see who’d win the most. In the end we won roughly $350. Not exactly huge, but considering how badly we done at the last few casinos both on ships and in Vegas we were pretty happy.

Tomorrow we’re in Victoria and I’m hoping to go to the restaurant we were at last time and gorge myself on crab and lobster and do some pub hopping. The ship leaves at midnight, so there’s the possibility we’ll have some runners to keep an eye for.

While we were in Victoria as I knew I was starting to get sick we toyed with the idea of simply getting off there and flying home that night and skipping Seattle. We went so far as to ask the ship people about us taking off and they grumbled because we didn't arrange it beforehand but said because it was a health issue that it'd probably be ok, but by the time they got back to us to give us the ok it was to late to have made the last flight out. So we sucked it up and got off in Seattle as planned. In the end I'm glad we did as I started to feel a bit better and we had a nice day there.

We finally were tourists and did touristy things like going to the Space Needle and the Museum of Pop Art. The needle was frankly a waste of money as once we got up there we realized it's currently under renovations and half the observatory deck was closed as was the restaurant and bar. But as we both joked we can at least now check it off our list. The museum was a better experience and they had some pretty neat displays in there. We also got to ride the tram and it's possible we were even on the local KIRO nightly news as they were filming right next to us and interviewing the conductor as it was some special anniversary since they built the thing. Later that night we had a yummy dinner at PF Chang's to celebrate our 11th Anniversary. And thus ended our latest get away.

As is happening more and more, we didn't take a tonne of pictures, but here are some highlights:

Unlike the lame Facebook posts of today, there's no joke to be found here.

As per the graphic, this little personal website of mine has been up and running for 15 years (as of a few weeks ago) now. Heck, I've been blogging before blogging was even a word! As has been mentioned previously I had hoped to have the site redesigned for the event, but the combination of lethargy, general busyness, and a hard drive crash have all conspired to prevent this from happening.

I had a reminder last week that I should really get on it when I went to post an update and it failed to connect. After much head scratching and a phone call to my provider I was kindly informed that they no longer support Frontpage extensions (gee thanks for the heads up). So I had to revert back to updating via FTP which is a pain. So yes, I really need to get with a newer platform.

Last month I made the decision to have a 'dry March' and not consume any alcoholic beverages. Mostly to prove that I could do it but also as I had a scheduled MRI and wanted to try and be as healthy as possible for it in the hope that when I meet with my cardiologist it'll be all unicorns and rainbows for me. I mostly succeeded although I did have a few on St. Paddy's Day. Being a long weekend I celebrated this weekend much to Chris' annoyance who is tired of waking up to me rocking out in the garage at 4am. But I'm going to give it another go this month, because really April is such a waste of a month to begin with. We'll see how it goes.

Chris' Dad & Lori were here this weekend for a visit which was nice. Kim, Hailey, and Michael were also here for our traditional Easter Rib Dinner. Ok, so it's not actually a tradition, but maybe it should be. Chris has been in love with her Instant Pot ever since she got it, while I still prefer the slow cooker. So we decided to have a Rib-off to see which was better. I had to swallow my pride as I think hers came out on top - but only because I messed up the heat setting on mine. Normally I would have done eight hours on low. But we only had six hours to cook and instead of putting it on high, I kept it on low - as a result my ribs while tasty were a bit chewy. So really it wasn't a fair fight.

With regards to getting our back yard finished - phase 2 of our project - there's been some interesting developments. Basically the people who did all the landscaping have apparently dropped off the face of the Earth. So we brought in a couple different companies and met with them earlier in the week. We explained our 'vision' to them and they're going to come back to us with some design ideas and a quote. We decided we're not going to have a deck built after all and will instead just extend our patio stone into the designated space where the pergola will be built. This should save us a bunch of money as a result. Over the next week or so we'll pick a company to work with and get the ball rolling and hopefully be able to enjoy our completed back yard in time for summer.

Back from our trip, as always I've kept a journal of our adventures. Enjoy!

Currently sailing up the mighty Mississippi River. For some reason I find it bizarre that a Cruise ship, especially one as large as the Reflection can do that. It’s considered a Sea day today, but we dock in New Orleans around 6:30pm. First day the weather was good, hot but not crazy, some clouds, humid. But today is overcast and rainy and a little chilly.

Getting to Fort Lauderdale was a bit of an adventure, we were an hour late taking off as we had to de-ice. Then on our approach into Toronto the pilot aborted the landing at the last second and gunned the engines, banking hard as we climbed to come around for a second attempt - apparently another plane hadn’t cleared the runway. We managed to make our flight with no time to spare. Then I ended up sitting next to another passenger that was a barrel of snot and could hardly breathe. I was in hell for the 3.5 hour flight as all I could focus on was that sure as shit I was gonna get sick.

Not that I helped matters as after we got on the ship we all proceeded to tie one on. Things were going good, it was fun and relaxing, enjoying the start of our vacation with a nice manageable buzz going - until we hit the Martini Bar. Then as usually happens it was downhill from there. Both Kim & I ended up getting sick which I haven’t done in years. Needless to say our next day was pretty slow.

The ship is nice, it’s a bit bigger (extra deck?) than the Equinox/Solstice, but basically the same. For the first time ever we have a regular balcony cabin and not a suite. Not having a butler is weird. But we still got a Concierge class so that combined with our Elite status still gives us a bunch of perks. The demographics is all old people - we’d be considered young on this trip - which we found odd considering we’re going to Mardi Gras.

Currently in the middle of the ocean enroute to Grand Cayman. The big easy was a lot of fun, but surprisingly gross, grimy, and industrial. After we were cleared to disembark we beelined it to Frenchmen Street which we had heard from several people was the place to be - basically where the locals went to have fun. We tried to get in to The Spotted Cat which our neighbors had recommended but there were no tables to sit at. The next place we tried you could only get a table if you were eating - my patience was quickly running out when we finally found a club that had space at the bar so we bellied up there. They had a blues band playing and while not amazing, they were enjoyable to listen to. The bathroom situation was interesting though as the toilets had overflowed and they closed them on the main floor forcing us to go upstairs. There I was less than thrilled to find a bathroom attendant inside. I’m a shy enough pee-er to begin with, never mind having to go a foot away from someone watching you and then be expected to tip him after.

We stayed for several songs and then wandered to another club. We quickly learned that the time to go into a club is between band sets as once someone started playing the place would quickly fill up. This place was pretty scuzzy and reminded me of the shitty university clubs I used to go to back in the day, but the band was really good and soon the place was jumping. They were a cover band but played a wide variety of songs and had lots of energy. It was a really fun night.

On the second day we wandered ashore in the early afternoon and ended walking the length of Bourbon Street. Even at 2pm the place was crazy full of people. You really had to watch where you stepped as it was easy to slip on all the beads on the ground. From there we grabbed the public transit trolley to go see their famous cemetery but we arrived just as it was closing. Somewhat deflated we found ourselves back at the start of Bourbon Street. Chris and I decided to stay and party while Kim went back to the ship. We spent several hours there bar hopping and taking in the um, lovely scenery and Chris acquired many beads. With the right group of friends it would be a blast to party there. We didn’t stay too late though as we had to be up early for the big parade.

The next morning came and we were all so tired that even we had bought tickets we said screw the parade and just rested instead. But by lunchtime we got our oomph back and when it looked like the parade stands weren’t that far away we wandered up there. As the parade was basically a non-stop, all day event we still managed to experience a decent amount of it. Although after awhile it started to all kinda be the same. All the floats were the same with just a different character on front and they all threw out the same assortment of beads and other trinkets. I’m glad we got to see it, but personally I think the Stampede parade is better.

We then hit Harrah’s casino on the way back and wasted some money. Or at least I did, everyone else seemed to be wining left and right. When we got back onboard we got our drink on and had a yummy dinner at the specialty restaurant up on the lawn area of the ship and said goodbye to the Big Easy.

Second last day in the Caribbean. Just got up to the sun rising and still enroute to Cozumel and breakfast has been ordered. We had so much fun yesterday with the stingrays. On our first cruise oh so long ago we went there and had a great time snorkeling and watching them below us. This time however we stopped on the sandbar where the water was only a few deep and you could stand. I had a blast swimming with them and touching them as they went by. I’d hold out my hand and they’d think I had food and swim up to me and lunge at my hand bumping it with their ‘nose’. We spent a good chunk of time there before moving on to one of the coral reefs. The water there was really rough and my snorkel kept closing on every 2nd breath, so I quickly went to get back in the boat and while waiting for some douche who was standing on the stairs to get a new mask got pushed up against the boat by a wave and scraped the crap out of my leg. So I was a bit of a grumpy bump, but on our last stop it was a bit calmer and I made out ok. Saw some more stingrays and fish and corals.

On the trip back to shore one of the guys cut open a conch shell he had snagged from the ocean shore and we saw how they get the ‘meat’ out and they sliced it up and gave everyone samples. They said Chris could have the beautiful shell, but I didn’t think the border dudes would have allowed us to bring it back. Unfortunately it was a short day as we had to be back on board by 3pm. So we only had time to have a quick rum punch at one of the dockside tourist trap bars before catching the last tender back to the boat.

Homeward bound sadly. Relaxing on our deck listening to the crashing waves while Chris is packing our stuff and getting organized for tomorrow’s departure off the ship. Yesterday’s stop in Mexico was fun. We actually managed to venture beyond the tourist trap village this time. Cozumel was the last stop on our very first cruise and it was fitting that the Carnival Valor which was our first ship was docked alongside us. We had booked an afternoon visit to the Mexico Discovery Center where we learned a bunch about the country and it’s history. We also got to grind up cocoa beans and make our own chocolate. And we finished with a Tequila tasting tour. I’m glad we didn’t just do the usual stay hangout at a bar all afternoon. That said, it was our final stop so we did hit up Senior Frogs before getting back on board. Chris & I were in a party mood but Kim wasn’t feeling it so we soldiered on without her.

Chris is looking forward to getting back but as was the case on our last big vacation I don’t want to go home. I’d be perfectly content delaying reality for a little while longer.

We didn't take a lot of pictures this trip as I didn't take my camera. There weren't any from Grand Cayman and some from Bourbon Street we um, obviously couldn't show. But here's some of what we did take:

It was a fun vacation, we can't wait for our next cruise in a few months to Alaska!

Words can’t express how sad I feel right now….but I feel I need to at least try…

After 16 wonderful years we finally had to say goodbye to our cat Mindy. She hadn’t been doing well for a few months now and only a couple days ago Chris had asked my opinion of when it was 'time'. I replied that as soon as she couldn’t get around we would take her in to be put down. This morning she texted me to call her and when I talked to her she said the time was now. So I came home, we called the vet and went in. Before we left we both hugged each other and had a good cry. Mindy was next to us on a blanket on the couch curled up and sleeping. On the ride to the vet we dispensed with the usual cat carrier and Chris just held her in her arms and she was alert and taking in the wonder of travelling in a car and getting to see the scenery passing by. All I could think of was that she was taking in this new experience as we were taking her to her death. When we got there I didn’t even have the balls to go in and be with her in the end. I just couldn’t do it and I feel forever ashamed that Chris had to do it alone.

When we got home and walked through the door it really hit me that she was gone. It seemed so surreal and wrong. Something that was a fundamental part of lives for as long as we’d known each other was missing. The house suddenly didn’t feel like a home and instead just felt empty. We still don’t know what was wrong with her. We had test after test done on her and everything kept coming back ok. But she kept losing weight despite everything we did. She was moving less and less and in the end falling down. She couldn’t go on like that.

Some might be tempted while recognizing it’s always sad losing a pet to say just that - that’s it’s just a pet. And after losing my Dad I’ll admit that my outlook on a number of things forever changed - but the hurt I felt today I haven’t felt since I lost him. Not having children, perhaps we feel this loss more than some would.

Despite the sadness, a couple things bring a smile through the tears. On the last couple nights she was with us she slept with Chris through the night which is something she’d never done before. And in the past few months she was a permanent fixture on Chris, cuddling with her throughout her final days. As for me, two nights ago we were watching TV and I had a craving for Creme Soda which I haven’t had in years and we just happened to have a bottle. When I sat down with it Mindy perked up sniffing the air and came over to me and was all over me wanting to know what I was drinking. It was hilarious.

Our Sun Kitty

I went through years worth of pictures and there were so many of her to choose from, I really liked one where she was standing on her tail which is what she always did due to her short front stubby legs. But I think this one is what I’ll immortalize her with - because if there was a sliver of sunlight anywhere in the house, she would find it and soak it in.

Goodbye Mimmer.

Welcome to 2018!

As mentioned in my last post New Years was fairly subdued. We went over to Chuck & Tracy's and spent most of the evening with them. Funny story, anyone who knows me knows I'm a cat person and am pretty ambivalent about dogs. And on the dog scale small dogs are much further down on my appreciation level. But I met their new dog which is a Chihuahua and fell in love with him. Apparently he's not crazy about men but by the end of the night we were best friends with him hanging comfortably on my lap. We left in time to get home before midnight which was probably a good thing as I hear someone was up to 8 in the morning spilling wine everywhere...

When we got home we dutifully headed to the neighbors and did the countdown and the smoochy smooch. Another year was done.

So by now I'm supposed to have bought a new gym membership and pledged to be healthier right?? Well I haven't made any resolutions, but I was going to try and have a 'dry' January and not drink at all. You know what they say about best intentions...we went out one night while the World Junior Hockey championship was on and I decided to have 'just one beer'...needless to say it was a late night and I felt like crap the next day. Ok, so maybe I'll try a dry February. Nope, going on a cruise. Perhaps March? Ya, let's go for March.

I had planned on updating this website and bring it into the modern era - well somewhat modern anyway. Early last year I had begun tinkering with Microsoft Expressions which was their web design software that went end of life but which they made free after. I was somewhat well underway with getting familiar with it and migrating this site when my hard drive crashed and I lost everything. I've only recently looked at it again and it's disheartening having to start from scratch again. Pretty sure I won't meet the 10 year March anniversary of getting it done, but I do hope to get it complete sometime this year.

I also recently jumped on the cryptocurrency bandwagon. I was literally sick to my stomach when I realized that had I got in when I first heard about it I would have been able to retire. But back then I didn't really understand it so I ignored it. So in the spirit of FOMO (fear of missing out) I signed up on an Exchange and started trading. Of course as with most things, by the time the mainstream media notices and Joe Sixpack hears about it the window of opportunity is largely gone. But we'll see. Although Bitcoin is what everyone is talking about I'm more interested in Ethereum which I think will end up dominating. It's been fun watching the wild price fluctuations. Unlike some people, I haven't mortgaged my house to fund my holdings so I'm not about to jump off a bridge when it's tanking. At last count I've made a whopping 2% on my investment.

Not much else is new although in a nod to our getting old Chris & I have recently discovered the joy (frustration) of jigsaw puzzles. Our kitchen table is now a work area to some monstrously hard puzzle from famed maker Cobble Hill. We're almost done but now all the remaining pieces don't have any identifiable markings so it's simply trial and error to get them to fit. So ya, in addition to reading books before bed we're now full fledged puzzlers. Next up we'll be playing bridge with the 'girls' on the weekend. Sigh.